


Become Stronger

by TigerMultiverse



Series: Straw Hat Kaiyo [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Art, Gen, How Do I Tag, Kaiyo loves her crew, Original Character(s), Poor Luffy, Post Ace Death, Pre-Timeskip, post-separation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:15:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerMultiverse/pseuds/TigerMultiverse
Summary: After getting separated from her crew, Kaiyo finds herself in the company of an old swordsman on an isolated island with forests and mountains, while there, she learns terrible news.
Relationships: Kaiyo & Roman, Kaiyo & the Straw Hat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace
Series: Straw Hat Kaiyo [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1544869
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Become Stronger

**Author's Note:**

> [Amino](http://aminoapps.com/p/li01pxd) | [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tigermultiverse)

Pain.

That’s the last thing Kaiyo remembers.

Burning pain.

Her and her crew were…fighting Bartholomew…two actually. That confused her.

They were…robots?

Kaiyo didn’t know, it didn’t matter.

What mattered is that they were beat.

Her crew disappeared…she saw them vanish before her eyes…they were gone…

She remembers that…she was trying to get away, but Bartholomew hit her and…nothing…

Everything is black and…it doesn’t hurt? Why didn’t it hurt? Where was she? Where was her crew?

As thoughts went through her head, Kaiyo felt her consciousness return to her slowly. She opened her eyes and saw a wooden ceiling above her, a light swaying gently over her. As she fully came back to consciousness, she noticed that she was lying on a futon, a soft blanket draped over her.

Kaiyo took a breath before sitting up, the blanket pooling over her waist. She looked down and saw that her arms, legs, and torso was covered in bandages.

The young Straw Hat looked around and saw that she was in a small cottage.

It was big enough for two people, but it looked like only one person lived here. It seemed like she was in the living room. There was a couch in front of a fireplace, a couple pillows and a blanket placed on it. And there was an old, powerful looking sword above the fireplace. There was an open door to the kitchen, where it looked like someone put the kettle on. The cottage was cozy and warm.

Kaiyo’s attention was drawn to the door when she heard it opening, she turned and saw an old man walk in. He was 50-70 years old, he had brown graying hair and a beard, wearing a black short kimono with dark blue jeans and black boots. But the one thing that Kaiyo noticed was his eyes, they were blood red and the sclera was pure black.

Upon noticing that she was awake, the old man gazed at her with warm, kind eyes.

“Your awake.” The old man said as he sat down in front oh Kaiyo, his legs crossed. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Kaiyo stopped to look at her wounds, “nothing hurts.”

The old man nodded. “That’s good, you’ve been asleep for a couple of days.”

Kaiyo jerked her head up at that.

“A couple days?!” She yelled, her blue eyes going wide. “H-how?! How did-?! My crew! I have to-!” The young Straw Hat tried to stand up but fell back on the futon with a cry of pain.

“You shouldn’t get up.” The old man said, putting his hands on her small shoulders. “You were pretty beat up when I found you. You need to rest.”

Reluctantly, Kaiyo took a deep breath and nodded, sitting cross legged on the futon. The old man nodded as he stood up and went to the kitchen to get her food and tea. He came back a minute later with two cups of tea and a bowl of rice, he put a cup and the bowl in front of her before sitting on the mat, drinking his tea.

Kaiyo mumbled her thanks before taking the bowl and slowly eating the rice, taking a few sips from her tea.

“Who are you anyway?” The young Straw Hat asked.

“I’m Roman.” He said, taking another sip of his tea. “I was a swordsman once. You?”

“I’m Kaiyo,” she took another bite of rice before continuing, “I’m a member of the Straw Hat Pirates.”

“Hmm, a young pirate. Nice to meet you kid.”

“You too, Roman-San.”

Silence filled the room as the two sat there, drinking their tea and eating their rice. When Roman finished his tea, he put the empty cup on the tray and watched Kaiyo for a moment.

“How did you get here kid?” He asked, watching her take another bite before swallowing.

“Me and my crew were attacked by Bartholomew Kuma, two of them actually.” Kaiyo said, glaring at her bandaged hands clenched in her lap. “They were too strong for us. We all got separated. Now I don’t know where they are.” She lowered her head, voice laced in fear and concern.

The old man looked at her with unreadable eyes, but before he could say anything, a soft ‘thud’ was heard against the door. Roman stood up and headed to the door, he opened it and saw that it was just the newspaper. He picked it up and closed the door, walking back and sat back down on the mat, beginning to read the paper.

“Ok, let’s see. Marine business, advertising, marketing. Oh, huh?” For some reason, Kaiyo felt something knot in her stomach, something didn’t feel right.

“Can I see that?” She hurriedly asked, her hands halfway outstretched towards the paper. The old man nodded and folded it before handing it to her. Kaiyo took it and quickly flipped back to the last page.

Her blue eyes widened as she felt her heart stop in her chest.

… _No._

**‘Fire-Fist Ace Dies.’**

It was _Ace_. But…he was laying on his stomach, a giant bleeding hole in his chest. His eyes were closed and…there was a _smile_ on his lifeless face.

She didn’t want to believe it, she didn’t. Kaiyo gripped the newspaper tightly in her wrapped hands, a painful knot blooming in her chest.

“Ace…” Kaiyo’s whole body was trembling, the feeling of hurt and dread spreading in her chest.

He can’t be dead. He can’t! He-!

Why was he smiling?! Why?! Why are you _smiling_?!

 _Luffy_.

Her eyes widened and filled with tears as she thought about Luffy, how he must have been there for it.

“Luffy!” Kaiyo cried out as tears began streaming down her face, grief over taking her. The news paper fell from her hands as she fisted the futon in her hands.

Roman was rubbing her back, but it didn’t matter, Kaiyo didn’t even feel it. She felt her world coming down.

Her crew was gone, she didn’t know where they were, Ace was dead, and Luffy was broken and hurt. As she kept sobbing, only one thought went through her mind.

What do I do?

* * *

About a day or two later, Kaiyo found herself on the old man's deck, sitting on a mat as she looked out into the endless ocean. She was healing, slowly but surely.

After she was healed, she didn’t know where to go, she couldn’t go back to the Sunny, they wouldn’t be there. And since she didn’t know where her friends were, she had no way of communicating with them. Her heart hurt for her captain, she wished she could do something for him, but what? She was on an isolated island with an enormous forest and giant mountains, how could she help?

She wanted to go home, back to the Sunny, back to her friends. She desperately wanted to be with them, but she couldn’t.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Roman opened the door and sat down beside her. She looked over and saw that he had today’s newspaper, folded in his lap. The old man looked at her expectantly, but Kaiyo just looked back to the sea, her eyes hollow. He opened the paper and skimmed over it before something caught his eye. He looked over the headline and info before a smile spread over his face as he looked back to Kaiyo.

“Hey,” the young Straw Hat turned to the old man, “you might want to see this.”

His smile widened as he held the paper over to her, not giving off any other emotion. Kaiyo stared confused before taking the paper and opened it to the last page. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief at what was on the page.

**‘Straw Hat Luffy rings the Ox Bell!’**

It was _Luffy_.

Her captain.

“That’s your captain, right?” The old man said, watching as Kaiyo didn’t take her eyes off the newspaper.

It felt surreal to see him after a while, especially him looking like that. He was standing in front of a bunch of marines ready to fight, his eyes closed and straw hat pressed over his heart in a silent prayer.

But, that’s not what caught her eye. What did was the tattoo on his right arm, it was numbers and letters. It said 3D and 2Y, but the 3D was crossed out. It took her a moment before understanding what Luffy was doing.

He was sending a message to the crew.

He was saying, not 3 days, but 2 years. Meaning that they would meet up in two years. They all had until then to train.

Kaiyo stared at her captain for a moment before smiling brightly and putting the paper on the floor.

“You got it Captain.” She whispered out to him, hoping he heard.

“What is it?” Roman asked, confusion in his tone and face, not getting what was going on.

“My captain sent us a message. We have 2 years to train. We’ll meet up soon.”

“Good.”

Silence rained, a gentle breeze passed over them, making their hair rustle in the wind. As the moments passed, Kaiyo thought about what she would do. She couldn’t go to a majorly populated island, she would get recognized, and she didn’t know anyone who would help her train. A sudden idea came to her head as she looked at the old man. She thought long and hard before turning her small body towards him, her posture straight and hands on her knees.

“Old man…” she started, sweat dripping down her face, gaze downward. “Please, help me become stronger for my crew.”  


Kaiyo bowed her head and closed her eyes as she waited for an answer from the old man. She desperately hoped he would help her, she needed it to become stronger. For her Nakama. Her family. She needed to do it for them and her.

“Alright.” He said suddenly, making Kaiyo jerked her head up and look to him in shock. “We’ll start after you’ve healed. You’ll wed to tell me how you fight so I can really help.”

The young Straw Hat felt her eyes grow moist as she stared at the old man in gratefulness and joy. She reached up to wipe the oncoming tears away before nodding to Roman. She would become stronger.  
She will make her captain and crew proud.

She would.


End file.
